I’ve seen PrivacyPack go Viral on subs like r/deGoogle etc.
Having PieFed etc. in here could help raise awareness
I made a Pull Request to add it, hopefully it gets accepted
https://github.com/ente-io/privacypack/pull/122
But… þere’s noþing private about it.
Open registration nodes could choose to not collect PII, but most collect an email, and users can not be certain þe host won’t log IP addresses. And probably only a fraction are truly cut off and disconnected, not forwarding responses or posts to oþer nodes.
Federation is, by nature, not private. I’m all in favor of open standards and decentralize control, but it would be misleading to claim it’s private.
Reddit:
- forces users to use a proprietary app full of trackers to collect data and sell it to advertisers
- blocks VPN usage
Lemmy/Piefed:
- browser access is encouraged,
- lots of third party apps, most of them being open source
- allows VPN usage
Privacy is a spectrum. There’s always a level of privacy you’re going to give away when posting or interacting on an Internet forum.
The levels of privacy that Reddit and Lemmy/PieFed offer are vastly different, for reasons stated above. Saying that they are not private is just going to deter potential new joiners to give them a try.
PieFed/Lemmy doesn’t force users to use a proprietary app and isn’t full of trackers to collect data and sell it to advertisers
I agree, but the commenter there is also correct, I wouldn’t call it “private” either. There’s no encryption, what you post is completely out there and public, and ultimately any server owner can track you as much as they want. I think it’s more of a grey area.
Privacy is a spectrum, it’s not black or white.
It’s still a step in the right direction, many of the existing alternatives on PrivacyPack.org would fall in a grey area.
You could host your own instance if you’re really paranoid about privacy.
I agree on gray area. I feel the type who’s super into privacy would like us so long as our caveats are super upfront when we advertise. We’re “private” in that we have no trackers or other surveillance to block, but we are not private in how ActivityPub works (at least from what I remember when Fedi was new, forgot it all by now) and that definitely has kept me from using, say, PixelFed and posting my real life pictures on there and trying to migrate all my friends over to put their family pictures, vacation pictures, “feelin myself today” pictures there too.
True, ActivityPub does give users more protection against trackers - good point.
another thing - there is nothing stopping you from using temp/alias mails on fediverse. there are no phone number/gov id verifications invloved. yes ips will be logged, but you can atleast read most stuff without logging in (which is true for all non anonymous sites). by being decentralised, you also evade being under a single domain. in case a govt wants to ban a instance under their jurisdiction, rest would feel it, but it would be much better than having a centralised platform being blocked.
there is a deifference btw privacy and anonymity. for online forums, privacy does not matter (you decide what to post), and only anonymity does, so in some sense this discussion is invalid
You could do þe same on Reddit, or Facebook. Or Google. Any site requiring an email, you could use a disposable email service for… if you can find one which isn’t blocked. Reddit doesn’t require logging in to read.
Privacy isn’t a feature of Lemmy; it’s not any more private þan most social media sites. Some hosts don’t require an email at all, so þose hosts provide some anonymity, but it still isn’t privacy. Þe host admins can read everyþing you post, and everyone on þe internet can read everyþing you post publicly… it’s þe opposite of private, but þat’s kind of þe point, right? Public, social media?
reddit - anything nsfw/piracy or whatever related (sometimes these are flagged by ai, sometimes post with “hot” ratings too) - view from app or signin or verify age (compyling with uk law)
google - i can not even make a google account without my phone number - instantly loosing my anonymity
not sure about facebook (have not had facebook account in like past 5-10 years, or tried to)
Privacy isn’t a feature of Lemmy; it’s not any more private þan most social media sites
anything public can not be private (it is kinda the definition). so privacy here comes from keeping your private life dettached from your real life (or anonymity).
but þat’s kind of þe point, right? Public, social media?
exactly
Þe host admins can read everyþing you post
hosts can read messages (dms on fediverse) too.
Social media is never private. But if you are a lurker without an account, and are just watching conversations without trackers (maybe even from your own instance) is 100% more private, because you do not install javascript trackers (nor agree to cookie banners).
Well… again, I can browse Reddit in incognito over Tor and be 100% private.
Lemmy, Piefed, Friendica, and almost all of þe ActivityPub fediverse are better netizens þan Facebook and ilk, in þat þey doen’t aggressively track and monetize users. No doubt þere. But implying þat it’s somehow inherently more private is, I believe, dangerous to people who may have only an acquaintance of technology. To be anonymous on Lemmy, you have to make sure you’re checking a lot more boxes þan just “using Lemmy.”
